Infill, Inspire, Innovate: Exploring Non-Traditional Architecture With Alex Nikjoo

In this Architecture Social CPD, Stephen Drew is joined by Alex Nikjoo, architect and founder of the London practice NIKJOO. Recorded as a live conversation, it runs for around 45 minutes and explores how a small practice gets started, how to design for longevity and sustainability, and how architects can diversify their skills beyond the drawing board.

Who this is for

Architecture students, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 assistants, and early-career architects who are curious about setting up their own practice, diversifying their work, or designing non-traditional residential projects. It is also useful for anyone interested in sustainable design and the business side of running a studio.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session you will be able to:

1. Describe how a single, well-executed project can launch a small practice.
2. Explain what infill housing is and why it matters for urban density and sustainability.
3. Assess the role of sustainability and modern methods of construction in residential design.
4. Recognise the commercial and personal pressures builders face around payment, and how fairer processes can reduce disputes.
5. Use AI tools appropriately as an aid to design and administrative tasks.
6. Apply practical business development tactics, from press to word of mouth, when building a practice.

From moonlighting to launching a practice

Alex's first independent project was the conversion of a disused chapel in Deptford, south London, into an artist's home, studio and gallery. He took it on while still employed at a boutique practice, working early mornings and evenings around his day job. The project, which used a timber cantilevered mezzanine and minimal steel, was published and gave him the confidence and portfolio to set up NIKJOO. His point is honest: the phone does not ring off the hook after one published project, but it provides the momentum to keep going.

Designing for longevity and sustainability

NIKJOO designs buildings intended to outlast their first owners. Alex draws a comparison with London's Victorian housing stock, which has endured for around 200 years, and argues for taking that same long view while building airtight, well-insulated and genuinely sustainable homes. On the chapel project, later owners added photovoltaics and an air source heat pump, moving the building close to its original off-grid ambition.

What infill housing is and why it works

Infill is the practice of filling in the missing parts of the urban fabric: small, disused plots such as former car parks, petrol stations or garages, often brownfield and sometimes fly-tipped. Alex works with a developer on several such sites, designing unique homes tailored to each plot's constraints and exploring modern methods of construction such as cross-laminated timber and offsite fabrication. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; each site is researched and designed on its own terms.

Building in the green belt

One project Alex highlights is a new-build farmhouse in the green belt outside Oxfordshire, for a working farming family. Building in the green belt is difficult and tightly controlled, and the project navigated several planning routes to gain permission. The design uses locally quarried stone and as much recycled material as possible.

Diversifying: the Balance platform

Alongside the practice, Alex co-founded Balance, a platform designed to make building payments fairer and more transparent. It uses a staged escrow model: for each agreed stage of work, the client places funds into a secure account, and the money is released once both parties confirm the stage is complete. The aim is to give builders confidence they will be paid and clients confidence the work will be done. Alex describes applying his architectural training to the design of the app, thinking of the user journey in the same way he would the journey through a building.

The human side of construction payments

Alex is candid about the pressures builders face. Main contractors often pay subcontractors and labourers before they themselves are paid, and may only see profit on a final payment. Late or withheld payment causes real financial and mental health strain across the industry. Tools that make payment fairer and clearer are a small but meaningful way to reduce that pressure.

AI as a tool, not a threat

Alex treats AI as a useful aid rather than a replacement for design judgement. He uses it to speed up writing tasks such as bios and press releases, and to generate reference images quickly, saving the hours usually spent searching for the right precedent. The output always needs editing and improving, but as a generative starting point it frees up thinking time for the work that matters.

Winning work: press, word of mouth and showing up

Getting published is largely relationship-based, and one feature rarely leads directly to new clients, since the readers are often other architects. For NIKJOO, around 95 per cent of work has come through word of mouth and referrals, including from builders who trust the practice. Alex's advice is to keep showing up, at industry events and through other interests and hobbies, because you never know which conversation turns into a project.

Advice for setting up your own practice

Alex splits his advice in two. First, get the unglamorous business basics right: tax, licensing, insurance and CPD. Second, build genuine trust with clients and builders, treat the build as a collaboration rather than a contest, and do not spread yourself too thin. Commit properly to what you take on and make sure it is done well.

Key terms

• Infill development: building on small, disused or leftover urban plots to add homes within the existing fabric.
• Brownfield site: previously developed land, often disused, repurposed for new use.
• Cross-laminated timber (CLT): an engineered timber product used as a low-carbon structural material.
• Retrofit: upgrading an existing building, often to improve energy performance.
• Escrow: funds held securely by a third party and released when agreed conditions are met.
• Green belt: protected land around cities where development is tightly restricted.

Reflective prompts for your CPD record

1. How could a staged or escrow-based payment process change the way you manage projects and relationships with contractors?
2. Where in your own work could infill or constrained-site thinking unlock value or housing?
3. Which administrative or research tasks could you reasonably hand to AI tools, and where must human judgement stay in control?

About the guest

Alex Nikjoo is an architect and the founder of NIKJOO, a London-based architecture and interiors practice he established in 2017. The studio works across private homes, infill and new-build housing, retrofit, retail and cultural projects, with a focus on sustainability, craftsmanship and longevity. Alex also co-founded Balance, a platform aimed at making construction payments fairer and more transparent.